The best work

My partner and I pick up two kinds of work - direct to us and via agencies/consultancies. and somehow, the stuff we win directly has always turned out to be more successful.

It seems that the work that comes through third parties almost always has something hidden or strings attached. It doesn't necessarily make the work less satisfying, but over the past few years I'm probably into double figures on projects where I've had one scenario described to me only to find something different when I've met the client face-to-face.

I've recently picked up a contact with a financial services business via a third party. Ostensibly the project is to kick-start their vision and values communications. But a week in, it's clear that their V&V doesn't actually square with their culture and that more comms would be no more useful than polishing a turd.

It's likely - if they're brave enough - that we could be in on the ground floor of a very significant change programme. I think the client has known this all along, yet still went out to an agency to find a person or small business willing to support a comms need that's not really there - yet.

Effective communication isn't a panacea and some of the work specifiers and agencies are mixing comms with change when looking for solutions. I'm very happy to unpick the differences, but it too often leads frustrating false starts for both sides.

Do people have to fit into processes - or vice versa?

I've got a sore throat. I've had it for a week, and it isn't getting any better. But up to today, I haven't been near a doctor's surgery for about six years.

As you can see, we're building towards a connection. That connection comes from the fact that today I did walk into my doctor's surgery - and into a mis-communication loop that led to both me and the person I was attempting to book an appointment with to be less than satisfied with the exchange.

Now here's the situation. I moved into the area around 10 months ago, and my wife registered me with my new doctor. And that was it: until today.

So I walked through the door and up to the desk of an empty surgery. That's empty other than the two receptionists sat behind the desk busying themselves with their papers. I smiled. One briefly raised her eyes from her papers and then carried on what she was doing. It was a good 30-45 seconds before she acknowledged my presence. That put me on edge a bit.

"Hello," I said, "I'd like to make an appointment to see a doctor, I'm registered with Dr. xxxx."

"Is it an emergency?" the receptionist replied. "I don't know, I said. That's why I'd like to see a doctor." "Well, is it an emergency or can it wait?" she replied, immediately sweeping back round the loop from which no good could emerge.

"I don't know," I said again. "I haven't been to a doctor's for six years, and it's bothering me sufficiently to come down here now."

"Well I can only book you in if it's an emergency, " she continued, and I'm pretty sure she folded her arms at that point.

"Mrs. Txxxxx," I countered. "I'm not medically qualified and unless you are, I don't think we can come to that diagnosis - and anyway, I don't want to be talking about my symptoms out here. When can I get to see a doctor?"

"If you think it's an emergency, I can book you in to see Dr. Jxxxx at 6pm, after surgery's finished."

She said it in such a condescending manner that I was minded to stick a large medical dictionary up her nose. But at that moment I saw a sign behind the counter. It read: 'Since we introduced our new booking procedure, most patients have welcomed the new process. Some, however, have been extremely rude to our staff. This is not helpful and could necessitate us removing you from your doctor's lists.'

Now no-one has actually explained to me what the booking procedure was, but a light was going on that I probably wasn't fitting into their procedure. So I asked to see the Practice Manager.

Mrs T got on the phone: "Have you got time to see Mark Shanahan?" (no mister for me!). "He's unhappy with the booking procedure."

Frankly, I wasn't unhappy with the booking procedure. I was unhappy with the 'customer service' I'd received when trying to make my first ever booking at the surgery.

So I trucked upstairs to see Mrs. P. I retold her my experience and she explained that the booking procedure was to phone in and make an appointment on the day you feel ill - and that all today's scheduled appointments were full. After that, it was emergencies only and that they didn't take bookings for future days. Also, they were two doctors down and generally short staffed in terms of medical care.

It was an enlightening 10 minute visit to the surgery that could have taken less than two.
The lesson I took out was that Mrs. T and I got into the wrong communication loop through her expecting me to know the system, and through me expecting to be treated as an individual, not a component in a process.

Public servants like Mrs. T need to remember that they're dealing with individuals: people with different levels of need and understanding. Assuming knowledge is a dangerous thing - but can be overcome very easily by asking just a couple of establishing questions first. And the first question should never be....."Is it an emergency?"

Where do Values come from?

I'm on my third Values project of recent times and all have a commonality: the Values have originated/been imposed from the top of the organisation.

As a consequence, they're aspirational, a little airy-fairy and not really in keeping with the way the business operates.

All three companies are ruthless drivers of profits with dividend-hungry investors looking to gain the maximum return possible. Consequently the 'managers' leading each organisation are targeted on - and measured on - short-term profit.

Yet the values espoused by each company are around valuing colleagues; being customer-led and being recognised for their community responsibility.

If companies choose to act hard nosed, why don't they EVER accept that this attitude is truly what they do value?

Who are they kidding?